


Jealousy

by rainbowgoddess



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-24
Updated: 2012-03-24
Packaged: 2017-11-02 11:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/368276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowgoddess/pseuds/rainbowgoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny is jealous of all the attention Steve is getting from the local media.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at the Hawaii Five-0 Hurt/Comfort and Schmoop Fic Meme at LiveJournal.

Danny picked up his copy of _Hawaii Weekly_ and sighed. There, looking at him from the front page of the newspaper, was a picture of his partner, Steve McGarrett.

He scanned the article. It was the usual: Steve was a local boy who'd been gone for a few years, and now he was back heading up the elite task force known as Five-0. There was a list of some of their prominent cases, with a mention of how he'd been framed for shooting the late governor.

It wasn't a bad article, as articles went. Nothing was sensationalized. Sometimes, though, Danny got tired of reading about how wonderful his partner was. He wished that at least a few of the articles would mention that Five-0 was a team, and that even though Steve was the head, none of them was more important than any other. They worked together to solve those notorious cases the papers wrote about.

Sometimes there was an article about Chin, such as when he had made Lieutenant in the HPD, again because he was a local boy. Kono had already received plenty of press attention as a surfer, and once in a while she was interviewed for articles about surfing or mentioned in a "where are they now" type of story about how she'd given up surfing and gone to the police academy.

There was never a mention of Detective Danny Williams.

He told himself he was fine with that. Publicity wasn't why he was doing this job. What was important was that Five-0 solved crimes and took down bad guys, not that they got attention from the press. He wasn't a local. He was a _haole_ , a transplant from the mainland. He hadn't even come here voluntarily but rather had been forced into it so that he could see his own daughter once in awhile. It was no wonder the press didn't pay attention to him. He was happy for his teammates, his friends.

Sometimes, though, it stung just a little.

When he heard the knock on the door, he quickly tossed the paper into the recycle bin. He didn't feel up to discussing it with Steve. He'd told Steve many times that he didn't have to knock, but for once he was grateful that Steve still insisted on the "courtesy knock."

When he answered the door, Danny said, "Uh, sorry, Babe, but I don't feel up to going hiking with you today. Not feeling well."

Steve's face immediately showed concern. "Is there anything I can do? Do you need anything — a ride to the doctor, aspirin, chicken soup?"

The problem was that right now, what Danny needed was for Steve to not be here. "I, uh, appreciate your concern, but I think what I really need is some rest right now. I have my own bottle of aspirin, but thanks anyway."

"You'll call me if you need anything?" Steve asked. "Anything at all. You just have to ask."

Danny felt bad about lying to Steve, but he promised to call if he needed anything. Then he shut the door in relief. The truth was that he really didn't feel like going hiking with Steve, but it wasn't the hiking part that was the problem. It was the Steve part.

He told himself that he'd better get over it before he had to go back to work on Monday.

When Monday rolled around Danny had mostly forgotten about the newspaper, and he regretted not having gone hiking with Steve. He reminded himself of how kind Steve had been, not just this time but any other time he had selflessly offered his help to Danny. He wasn't going to let a stupid newspaper article come between him and his partner.

When Danny walked into Five-0 headquarters, Steve was in his face immediately. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "You could have stayed home if you wanted."

"I'm fine," Danny assured him. "Like I said, all I needed was a little sleep and some aspirin." He smiled. "Thanks for caring."

"That's what friends are for, _brah_."

Danny felt even worse for his resentment of Steve.

All resentments were forgotten when Five-0 got a call. A high-profile city councillor had been murdered, and Five-0 had the case.

When they arrived at the crime scene, they were met with a barrage of media, all calling for Steve's attention. "Commander McGarrett! Commander McGarrett!"

"Can you take care of them for me, Danny?" Steve pleaded. He obviously wasn't seeking the media attention.

Danny agreed and went to talk to the reporters. But they ignored him, all clamoring for Steve. The wanted the hero, the super-SEAL, not the _haole_ who had only recently stopped wearing a tie.

He stormed into the victim's apartment where Steve was consulting with Max over time of death. "Go talk to your fan club," Danny said. "They don't want anything to do with me."

Max looked at Danny curiously. "Is there a problem with Steve talking to the reporters?"

"Of course not. Why would there be a problem? There isn't any problem."

With a nod, Max indicated he understood, and he went back to his examination of the body.

The case was solved fairly quickly. A jealous ex-boyfriend turned out to be the culprit. But the media storm didn't let up on Five-0 for several days, and they always wanted to see Steve, though occasionally one of them would settle for talking to Chin.

After the fuss over the murdered councillor had finally settled down, Danny tried to get back into his routine and enjoy working with Steve again. But then something else happened.

Someone wanted to write a book about the case of the ambassador's murdered daughter. Danny remembered that one; he also remembered that he'd been sidelined for most of it with his bum knee. The writer didn't want to talk to him anyway. She wanted to talk to Super-Steve, the heroic Navy SEAL and all-round badass. It appeared she had a case of hero worship going on. And why not? Steve was a very attractive man, after all.

Danny told himself to stop thinking about his friend that way. It could only lead to heartbreak, and he'd had enough of that to last several lifetimes.

Before long, Danny was distancing himself from Steve. He didn't go out for Longboards or go hiking to the petroglyphs or work with Steve on his father's car. It was getting hard to come up with excuses. Grace began asking where Uncle Steve was.

Finally, things came to a head. One afternoon, after being rejected by Danny yet again, Steve showed up at his door, and this time he didn't bother with the courtesy knock. He walked, or rather barged, right in.

"What happened to the courtesy knock?" Danny asked as he tried to think of what Steve was here for.

"This isn't the time for courtesy, especially since you haven't been showing me any lately."

"Back up and try that in English," Danny said, trying to stall until he could figure out what Steve was going on about.

"You keep blowing me off when I ask you to do things with me, and I want to know why."

"Like I told you, I'm busy," Danny lied.

"You are not busy. You are sitting on the couch in your boxers watching Mickey Mouse cartoons."

"Maybe this is what busy looks like for me," Danny defended himself.

"I don't get it. I want to know what's going on. Why are you avoiding me?"

"You really want to know?" Danny asked. "Do you really want to know? Think before you answer."

"I don't need to think before I answer. I really want to know."

"You might not like it," Danny warned him.

"I don't care," Steve replied. "I just want my friend back."

Shit. Why did Steve have to put it like that? It made Danny feel even worse about the way he'd been treating him lately. "All right. If you really want to know what the problem is, it's you and the fucking paparazzi."

"The paparazzi? What the hell are you talking about, Danno?"

"The reporters. The book writers. The magazine articles. The glowing praise for Commander Steven J. McGarrett, super-SEAL, saviour of Hawaii from drug dealers, car bombers, and murderers.

"We're supposed to be partners, you and me. More than that, the four of us are a team. Why are you the one getting all the attention?"

After thinking about it for a moment, Steve said, "I guess because I'm the head of the team. It never really occurred to me that you would be bothered by it."

"See, that's the whole problem. _It never occurred to you._ I'm your partner. I'm your friend. Yet this whole thing went right past you." That was what bothered him the most: the fact that Steve didn't get it.

"I'm sorry," Steve said, and to his credit, he appeared genuinely sorry. "I'm sorry that I hurt you. I don't ever want to hurt you."

Not knowing how to respond to that, Danny didn't say anything.

"Look, what is it that's bothering you, other than the fact that I didn't notice something was bothering you?" Steve asked. "I mean, in order for you to be upset that I didn't notice that something was bothering you, something had to be bothering you. Shit, now I'm talking like you do. What I mean is, are you jealous of the attention I'm getting? Is that it?"

In any other circumstance, Danny would have been amused at Steve's convoluted question. Right now, however, he wasn't finding anything amusing. He shook his head.

"No, it's not that. It's just that.... I'm not important. I'm not like the rest of you. I'm not from around here. I wasn't born here. I don't have any connection to this place. No matter how long I live here, I'm always going to be a _haole_ , and people are always going to treat me differently because of it."

"You're important to me," Steve said immediately. "I know it sounds strange for me to say that when you just got through telling me how I didn't notice that this was bothering you, but the fact is that you weren't letting me see that it bothered you. You didn't tell me anything. You just avoided me."

Danny realized that Steve was right. He couldn't really expect his partner to notice he was upset if he kept avoiding said partner. "Am I important to you?" he asked.

"Haven't I shown you that you are?

That was when Danny admitted to himself that he'd seriously misjudged Steve. In the time that they'd known each other, Steve had shown himself to be a truly loyal, caring friend and partner. Even such little things as offering to bring him aspirin when he'd lied about being sick were signs of that. "Yes," he said. "Yes, you have, and I'm sorry that I've treated you like this. I've been unfair."

"Let me tell you something," Steve said. "Those interviews, the magazine articles, the book — those were the Governor's idea. He thought it would look good, give people a more positive image of Five-0, especially after I was framed for murdering Governor Jameson."

"And he thought you should be the public face of Five-0 because you're so good-looking?" Oops. He hadn't meant to say that.

Steve grinned. "You think I'm good-looking?"

"Yes," Danny sighed. "I think you're good-looking. Don't let it go to your head."

“You know, I've missed you lately,” Steve said. “I kind of got used to us hanging around together.”

“Only when Catherine isn't around,” Danny muttered.

“What was that?” Steve asked.

“Nothing,” Danny answered.

“ **Are** you jealous, Danno?” Steve asked.

“Of course not,” Danny told him.

“I think you are. I think you're jealous because someone else is getting my attention, someone who is not you. That includes the reporters and the writers, as well as Catherine. You want me all to yourself.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Danny asked him.

“No. It's a very good thing,” Steve told him as he crossed the room and took Danny in his arms.

A few months later....

Things at Five-0 had improved for Danny since he and Steve had declared their feelings for each other. Steve had arranged things so that all media requests regarding Five-0 went to the Governor's press office rather than directly to Steve. He still accepted them, but not as many as before, and only on the condition that they included the entire team.

Then Steve and Danny announced their engagement. It was supposed to be a small announcement, but some eagle-eyed reporter spotted it in the social pages and decided to make a big deal over the fact that Cmdr. Steve McGarrett of Five-0 was going to take advantage of Hawaii's still relatively new civil union law to marry another man. Soon Steve was inundated with requests for interviews. He asked Danny to help him decide which ones to grant.

“How about we just call everyone together and address them all at the same time?” Danny asked.

“Like a press conference?”

Danny shrugged. “I guess.”

“Isn't that kind of an unusual way to talk about our marriage?”

“Since when has anything we've done here been usual?” Danny asked.

Steve had to admit that Danny had a point, and he asked the press office to schedule the conference.

At the press conference, everyone shouted questions at Steve regarding his sexuality, Five-0, the Navy, and Don't Ask, Don't Tell. No one seemed interested in talking to Danny. Steve held up a hand. “Hold the questions for a minute,” he said. “I want to introduce all of you to my partner, soon to be my husband, Detective Danny Williams.

“None of your articles about Five-0 spend a lot of time on Danny, but I want all of you to know something. Since becoming part of Five-0, Danny has been shot. He's been poisoned. His daughter was kidnapped. He's saved my life more than once, often at risk to his own life. He may not have been born here, but he has served the state of Hawaii just as well as anyone who was born here. Yet most of you ignore him because you see him as just a _haole_.”

He put his arm around Danny's shoulders.

“This man is as important to Five-0 as I am,” Steve continued. “He should be just as important to you.” Then he kissed Danny, which caused many camera shutters to click.

When the press conference was over, Danny said to Steve, “You didn't have to do that.”

“Yes, I did,” Steve told him. “You made me realize something when you got upset about not being important. I know that you're important, and it's time the rest of the world realized it too.”

“What matters most is that I'm important to you.”

Then Steve got an idea. “Let's go get married.”

“You mean right now?”

Steve looked at his watch. “We can go pick up Gracie at school, swing by the Palace to get Chin and Kono, and then we can go get married. We've already done the paperwork. This way the press won't know we've done it until after we've already left for our honeymoon, so we won't be bothered by reporters at the ceremony.”

“Babe, our honeymoon isn't for another week yet. We already bought the tickets.”

Steve grinned at him. “So we'll just have to start the honeymoon early — at home, if you know what I mean.”

Danny knew what he meant. “Then let's go get married.”

END


End file.
